Work session previews Aug. 20 hearing on rezone request for property with existing solar array near Highway 20

Audrey Stewart, associate planner for Deschutes County, briefed the Board of Commissioners Monday on a pending zone change and comprehensive plan amendment scheduled for a public hearing on Aug. 20.

The applicant seeks to rezone four tax lots totaling 240 acres from Exclusive Farm Use (EFU) to Multiple-Use Agricultural (MUA-10) and concurrently change the county comprehensive plan designation from agriculture to rural residential exception area. The subject property, located between Highway 20 and Neff Road, contains an existing photovoltaic solar farm that staff said covers about 62 acres.

Stewart told the board the original application materials listed differing acreage totals in various documents: the original cover sheet listed 259 acres while tax-lot acreage totaled 252 acres; the applicant later reduced the requested subject property to 240 acres by modifying the application. Stewart said the property’s NRCS soil mapping is predominantly 58C soil complex, which the applicant’s certified soil scientist analyzed and characterized as primarily class 7 and 8 soils in many locations. That soils analysis was a core part of the applicant’s argument that the land is not suitable for continued farm use; the hearings officer analyzed that approach and issued a recommendation of approval on July 9.

Stewart said the hearings officer accepted the applicant’s legal argument that a zone change can create a nonconforming use because a solar array is not listed as a permitted use under the proposed MUA-10 zoning. The applicant did not submit a site-specific soil study and relied instead on NRCS mapping plus a memo from a certified soil scientist.

Commissioners asked for additional maps and context for the Aug. 20 hearing, including larger-area aerials showing surrounding zoning, proximity to the urban growth boundary, dates of recent adjacent rezones, and irrigation-canal locations tied to local water availability. One commissioner asked staff to supply maps showing surrounding EFU and MUA zones so the board could assess whether the requested MUA-10 designation would represent an orderly transition from rural to urban uses.

Stewart said county GIS staff will prepare a larger, localized printout and that the hearings officer’s recommendation and the application record (including post-hearing public comments) are included in the packet. She noted seven people spoke prior to the hearings officer hearing, that parties submitted materials during the open-record period (including Central Oregon LandWatch), and that two additional public comments arrived after the hearings officer mailed the recommendation.

Background materials in the packet show the solar farm received a conditional-use permit and site-plan approval in 2015 and a modification in 2016; the applicant’s transportation analysis estimated roughly a 20-year functional life for the solar equipment. Stewart said the applicant’s final land-use approval occurred in 2016.

No board decision was made in Monday’s work session; commissioners used the meeting to request additional maps and factual context ahead of the Aug. 20 public hearing.